(Hat tip to MichaelMN on buzzflash).

Here's an opportunity to watch how the press handles two somewhat comparable occurrences involving congressional representatives and police.  Word choices, of course, matter.

Shays touches (note -- he doesn't jab, poke, or push). But descriptions of McKinney say struck or punched (not merely touch or tap).   I don't claim to definitely know what actually happened in each incident (and that's key) ...still, I am interested in the words that are used in the reports. In this case, the verbs.

Here is what I do know:Chris Shays (current congressional representative in a brouhaha with capital police, wherein Shays initiated the physical contact with the officer) is a Republican, white, middle-aged male from an affluent district (CT-04) and Cynthia McKinney, Democratic black middle-aged female, was at the time of her incident, a representative from Georgia-04. McKinney reacted to the physical contact from the officer.

Chris Shays

The Chris Shays incident as reported by the Hill:

According to sources familiar with the event, the outburst began after Officer Randy Cooper informed a staff member that he could not bring a tour through a lower west front door that has restricted access.

One source said that after Cooper informed the staffer that the family could not enter through the door, the staffer called Shays and tried to have the officer speak with him. When the officer refused, Shays himself came down to the post and proceeded to "scream obscenities" at Cooper before touching his nametag to read it in the rain and storming away.

Boston Herald doesn't get to describing the physical contact until midway through the article and here it is:

Shays soon arrived on the scene, had angry words for the officer and reached up to read the officer’s name tag. Shays touched the officer’s name tag, Capitol Police said.

I love this... "reached up to read"... The Hartford Courant leads with the physical contact description in its first paragraph:

during which he reached to touch the officer's nametag -- U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays Friday apologized for acting "in a way I know was not appropriate."

It's the same "reach" -- as if no physical contact occurred? -- followed by notice that Shays apologized -- the key in the headline is "Shays apologizes for Outburst."

for the McKinney treatment, jump below the fold